World Prematurity Day

Tomorrow is World Prematurity Day and it’s no secret that premature babies is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart. I’m so thankful for my 5 preemies. They have taught me so much about strength, perseverance, and the will to live.

Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) holds a very special place in my heart. I know I say it all the time, but BUMC is truly the best and that is because of the people who work there. From the time I checked into the hospital on January 31, 2014 until we left with our last baby, Rayleigh, on August 29, 2014 everyone treated me and our entire family with so much love. I know the quints are thriving two-year-olds because of the amazing medical care they received from the Baylor NICU staff, doctors, nurses, therapist, etc.

Once we had all babies home, I will admit, it was quiet the adjustment. I had become so accustomed to being able to ask the nurses about any questions I had concerning the quints. I trusted them. I felt so overwhelmed with the responsibility to caring for FIVE fragile babies, it was very scary for the first several months. Thankfully, our primaries, Lindsay and Sara, stayed in touch and were wonderful to continue to answer all my questions from home, via text messaging. They didn’t have to do that, but they did because they loved my babies. As time went on and the quints got stronger and healthier, our texting back and forth decreased. I’m thankful I’ve been able to stay in touch with them and several other nurses from the NICU via Facebook. It’s hard to go from seeing people every day to not seeing them at all. But of course, life goes on, the kids have kept me very busy, and the nurses continue to save tiny lives in the NICU.

Last month we attended the BUMC NICU Reunion and it was so good to see so many of the nurses and doctors that took care of the quints. I’m thankful we have the reunion every-other-year so we can continue to see and visit with everyone. I look forward to going to as many reunions as we can. I know it will get harder as the kids get older and more involved in extracurricular activities. The staff at the NICU will change as it already has in the 2 years we’ve been gone, but hopefully a few will remain and we can meet up and share stories from our 4 months we spent every day together.

I will forever be thankful and grateful for everyone at the Baylor NICU. They saved my babies. Without their care and expertise, the quints would had died because they were too little and weak to survive on their own. They loved the quints. And they were amazing to me during the scariest time of my life. A simple thank you doesn’t seem adequate enough so I hope that every time they see pictures of the quints they think, ‘hey, I had a hand in saving those babies’.

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Michelle Seals

I'm a Jesus girl, wife to Steven, and a mama of six precious children. Our oldest son is Brady and we have girl-girl-boy-girl-girl quintuplets, Mia, Tessa, Brant, Gracie, and Rayleigh. I am an elementary teacher turned stay-at-home-mom. I enjoy blogging about our adventures, triumphs, and struggles as parents of 1 + quintuplets.